Downtime
by Julie Ann Pope
Summary: Rachel and Julie have a conversation outside of work (prompted by the stargate time traveller)


**Author's Note:** Rachel and Julie have a conversation outside of work (prompted by **the stargate time traveller** on here )

"I'd quite half fancy you if you weren't so wayward. Then again, it is all part of your _unique_ charm I suppose." DSI Julie Dodson sat in a corner of The Grapes with a large glass of red wine in her hand, her arm slung over the back of the sofa and her body turned towards her drinking companion. She had a casual, end of the day air about her posture and a relaxed tone of voice.

"Yer what?" DC Rachel Bailey wasn't anywhere near as inebriated as she could be by this time of the evening and neither was Dodson as far as she could make out. She must have popped a couple of pills or smoked a funny cigarette when she had gone to the loo earlier, it was the only explanation for what appeared to be flirting. Julie rolled her eyes and thought that the direct approach was needed, 'Sherlock' wasn't quite on the ball tonight.

"Despite the fact that you royally fuck up on occasion, that brain of yours is really rather attractive. Combine that with your physical attributes and if I were fifteen years younger and not your superior officer, you _madam_ would not be going home alone tonight." Rachel gawped at the older woman for a few moments while this piece of information sank in.

"You're serious aren't you?" She had to make sure before she started to say something that got her into trouble. She had a well known habit of engaging mouth before brain.

"I very rarely joke Rachel; take the piss, impart my witty sarcasm but never joke." Julie was one of those deadly serious sort of people who Rachel found it difficult to imagine having a giggle. She supposed some people were just like that, especially if you considered her rank and the sorts of things they regularly saw in their job.

"Are you gay?" Julie chuckled gently.

"If only human beings were that simplistic. I'm…_flexible_…although you are right, I'm usually more inclined towards the fairer sex." When Julie was a DC and very much younger she wouldn't have even entertained the notion of disclosing her sexuality. Fortunately she had achieved the rank she desired and there were legislative protections in place for LGB people in the force now.

"Wow! I mean, wow!" Rachel took a sip of her wine and looked back up at her superior officer. "I've always wanted to kiss a woman." Rachel's dark eyes were wide with wonder and Julie had to roll her own cynical eyes.

"You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard that one before."

"I'm serious. These blokes…the ones I end up with…they're nothing, not really. I don't know why I do it half the time, only that I know I can. It's like I can click my fingers and they all come running. That's quite a confidence boost if you've had a shit day." Rachel's self esteem was fairly low, mainly due to her mad childhood having been rejected by her alcoholic mother. The idiot blokes she seemed to fall for who were never really good enough seemed to endorse that.

"So you get high off the power?" Rachel nodded honestly.

"If you invested that ambition and concentrated on your career, you'd be a DSI before you know it and THEN you would have power at your fingertips. Sex is all well and good at the time but what about love? What about the people around you, the ones who help you through the darkest of days?" Julie leaned in closer, not wanting their fellow patrons and colleagues to overhear the conversation. Rachel didn't seem to mind the attention.

"There's my sister Ali, but we get along off and on, mostly off. Of course there's also Jan but we've only known each other a couple of years, not like you and Godz…Gill." Julie smirked at Rachel's use of Gill's nickname, she was a poor detective if she thought that her boss didn't know about it.

"No, not like me and Gill. It didn't happen overnight and took time to build up a solid relationship around our initial friendship. But we got there in the end and I wouldn't be without her now." Julie's voice took on a warm and soft edge and she took a moment to glance up from her conversation with Rachel. She saw Gill in animated conversation with another of her DC's, Janet Scott, and smiled to herself.

"Aww, you're a bit of a softy underneath aren't you?" Rachel teased, although she meant it in a nice way.

"Only when it comes to the people I love." It took a few moments for Rachel to process the conversation before she realised what Dodson had implied.

"Are you and Gill…I mean…_together_…?" Julie smiled wistfully and bit her lip in a sudden rush of embarrassment. She looked up at Rachel who grinned in return. She'd been caught out in a rare moment of vulnerability but in many ways she didn't really mind. She wasn't ashamed of her relationship with Gill, it was just that they hadn't told anyone outside of their immediate families yet.

* * *

Across the pub from them, Gill and Janet had just wrapped up a conversion about their children. Gill was still concerned about Sammy's choice to follow his parents into the force and Janet was doing her best to allay Gill's fears. She herself was going through the 'boy-phase' with Elise and Tasie was fast on her heels trying to copy her older sister. Janet worried that they were growing up too fast and the end of their childhood and innocence was in sight. Janet looked over at her best friend chatting animatedly away with her boss's best friend. They had never really seemed to get along but something was obviously holding their interest this evening.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Janet asked her boss and long-time friend.

"Buggered if I know." Gill gave the appearance they she wasn't all that bothered either but kept half an eye on them anyway. Julie's body language seemed to be suggesting that it was an intensely personal conversation. She wasn't concerned that Julie might disclose their personal relationship, they had already discussed and agreed that if it came up they wouldn't deny it. It had been months since then and no one had worked it out yet. Gill took a sip of her wine and turned back to Janet to continue their own chin wag.

"So, how's your mother?" Janet asked her boss. Just as Gill had opened her mouth to reply, a series of jeers and cheers rose up from the other patrons, mainly their colleagues, and both Janet and Gill whipped their heads round to seek out the source of the excitement. Gill immediately spotted Julie kissing Rachel quite energetically and she felt her stomach drop.

* * *

It was Gill's turn to drive but she seemed intent on giving Julie the silent treatment all the way home. Julie had tried to explain but had been cut off at every turn. She hoped that Gill would be more amenable now that some time had passed.

"It was just a kiss! I'm not going to jump into bed with her." Rachel had said that she had always wanted to kiss a woman and Julie was more than willing to assist with that experience. Rachel more than understood that it wasn't going to go any further and neither had she wanted it to.

"But you'd like to?" Gill's tone was accusatory as if what she had witnessed had confirmed something she had already given some thought to.

"Of course I would and so would you given half the chance!" Gill glared at her best friend. "Oh come on! Don't tell me that she doesn't get your knickers wet, I've seen the way you look at her when she's mid-epiphany." Gill considered it for a few moments and then conceded that she was unable to hide anything from her best friend-turned-lover.

"Alright, but remember that despite whoever else catches my eye I'm with you and I am so for a reason." It had been a big decision for both of them to move their friendship on to a more romantic level and had taken much soul-searching from Gill in particular.

"I know that and I'm with you because I love you and only you. I don't want a relationship with her and I don't even want to have sex with her, not really. Not unless I was single." Gill rolled her eyes and sighed aloud.

"Watch it lady, otherwise you'll be in the spare room for the rest of the week." Julie watched Gill's mouth twitch as she tried to hide a smile.

"You know you couldn't make it that long. So am I forgiven?" Gill stopped the car at a set of traffic lights and glanced over at her lover, seemingly weighing up whether to forgive her or not. The lights turned green and she turned her attention back to the road. After a few moments of silence she spoke carefully.

"I'll forgive you on one condition."

"What's that?" Julie was intrigued as to what the condition could be. She still didn't see that she had done anything terribly wrong.

"I get to snog Rachel Bailey in front of everyone too." Gill said with a smirk and Julie was left open-mouthed and speechless before they both burst into fits of giggles.


End file.
